The invention relates to improvements made to filling spouts for distributing a liquid to a container, of the type in which the spout has a liquid-distribution passage of annular cross section or quasi-annular cross section which generates an umbrella-shaped liquid jet at the outlet orifice, said passage being defined by two roughly parallel and roughly frustoconical facing walls, one of them, the outer one, belonging to a spout body and the other, the inner one, belonging to a central core of conical shape widening toward the aforesaid orifice and supported, by support means inserted between said core and the spout body, roughly coaxially in a roughly cylindrical duct defined in the spout body and ending at the aforesaid outer frustoconical wall.
The production of filling spouts designed to form a conical xe2x80x9cumbrella-shapedxe2x80x9d jet of liquid is known. Used to fill bottles, they in particular allow the liquid to be sprayed, very soon after it leaves the spout, against the inner wall of the bottle. The liquid is therefore introduced into the bottle by running along the wall, rather than in the form of a central jet sprayed directly toward the bottom of the bottle. In this way, the bottle can be filled with the minimum formation of foam or froth, making it possible to increase the filling rate and therefore reduce the time taken to fill the bottle.
However, known filling spouts for producing umbrella-shaped jet have disadvantages specific to the way in which the central core is supported.
In certain spouts, the central core is fixed behind the distribution orifice. If the fixing is too far upstream, the lower part of the central core that defines the distribution orifice lacks stability, and this has a detrimental influence on the continuity and homogeneity of the liquid curtain. If the fixing is situated only a short way upstream of the orifice, the liquid can no longer be conveyed axially and has therefore to be conveyed radially into the duct, and this disrupts the homogeneity of the flow at the orifice and, once again, has a detrimental impact on the continuity of the liquid curtain.
In other spouts, the central core is fixed by radial arms. Apart from the fact that these arms disrupt the liquid flow and constitute an appreciable local reduction in the cross section available for this flow, the arms may catch solid particles likely to be present in the liquid (fruit juice with bits for example) and this ultimately leads to an obstruction requiring the filling plant to be shut down for cleaning purposes.
There is therefore, on the part of the users, a pressing need for a filling spout with an umbrella-shaped jet that sets aside the disadvantages of the devices of the prior art.
To this end, a filling spout with an umbrella-shaped jet as mentioned in the preamble is characterized, being arranged in accordance with the invention, in that said support means comprise a leg which is inserted between said conical core and at least the wall of the cylindrical duct and which runs at least from the tip of the conical central core toward the orifice,
in that the leg is in the shape of a dihedron resting on the wall of the duct and comprising a knife edge coinciding with the axis of the conical central core, and
in that the upstream transverse wall of the leg, which is approximately triangular in shape, is inclined, upward, from the upstream to the downstream direction.
Advantageously, this leg may run as far as the lower end of the conical core and the distribution orifice is in the shape of a bean.
However, it is possible, by way of a variant, to provide that the leg does not run as far as the lower end of the conical core and that the distribution orifice is shaped as a full annulus; in this case, the continuity of the liquid curtain may be re-established at the orifice in spite of the presence of the leg situated significantly upstream and the liquid then flows in the form of a closed annular curtain.
Still according to a preferred embodiment, the leg is in the form of a dihedron resting via its widened part against the wall of the duct and comprising a knife edge coinciding with the axis of the conical central core; in addition, the upstream transverse wall of the leg, which is approximately triangular in shape, is inclined, from the bottom upward, from upstream to downstream. According to one exemplary embodiment able to ease the flow of the liquid stream, provision is made for the leg to start upstream of the tip of the conical core and for the knife edge of the dihedron formed by the leg, between its origin and the tip of the conical core, to be inclined and situated roughly in the continuation of the upper generatrix of the conical core.
In practice, suitable for the most commonplace applications, the manufacture of the spout is simplified if the central core is roughly conical of revolution, if the canal is roughly cylindrical of revolution and if the distribution orifice forms a bean shape running roughly in an arc of a circle.
In a specific exemplary embodiment that seems to be suited to most use scenarios, the distribution orifice extends over about 270xc2x0 and the leg supporting the conical core forms a dihedron with a vertex angle of about 90xc2x0.
Also as a preference, the leg is connected to the conical central core and to the wall of the cylindrical duct by respective fillets so that no region remains that is able to slow or catch particles suspended in the liquid.
By virtue of the measures in accordance with the invention, a filling spout is formed that has the advantages specific to spouts that form an umbrella-shaped jet of liquid, but also has the characteristic of combining the advantages of an axial liquid lead-in, of presenting no transverse obstacle to the stream of liquid (the conical core is strictly speaking xe2x80x9csuspendedxe2x80x9d in a coaxial central position) and finally of being shaped with no sharp corners and no dead corners, so that such a spout not only generates a liquid curtain in the form of an umbrella closed on itself or at the very least with a significant angular extent (for example over three quarters of a circle) but also lends itself particularly well to the processing of liquid containing relatively small-sized solid particles such as liquids (particularly fruit juices) containing pulp or bits.